Governments Fall Short in Fighting Defense Corruption: Survey

January 28, 2013

More than two-thirds of countries, including many of the world's largest arms traders, have inadequate safeguards to prevent corruption in their defense sectors, a survey by an anti-corruption watchdog said on Tuesday.

Germany and Australia are the only countries out of 82 surveyed by Transparency International UK with strong anti-corruption mechanisms, according to what the watchdog says is the first index measuring how governments counter corruption in defense.

Fifty-seven of the countries, almost 70 percent, had poor controls against corruption, according to the survey, which rated governments by criteria such as the strength of parliamentary oversight of defense policy and the standards expected of defense firms.